


Autumn

by Toad_Town



Series: Dads [12]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: "We didn't", Adopted family AU, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorder, Author rambling through characters as he tries to figure out wtf a gender is, Autistic Satya "Symmetra" Vaswani, Bad Parents, Bullying, Canon Autistic Character, Dad 76, Dad Reaper, Disassociation, Ensemble Cast, F/F, F/M, Fighting, Gay, Gender Confusion, Gender Identity, HELP I'M CONFUSED, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Hurt/Comfort, I'm out of practice, Intimidation, Lawbreakers, M/M, Making Up, PTSD, Suburban AU, Terrible Teachers, Trans Sombra (Overwatch), bad teachers can fuck you up mate, badass dads, good parents, harrassment, i literally just wrote this and I still have no clue what to tag it with, nothing is shown obvs, relationship troubles, tw mentioned rape, um
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-02-20 02:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13137189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toad_Town/pseuds/Toad_Town
Summary: Following the Reyes-Morrison family through the beginning of school until the holidays





	1. Return to school

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm BAAAAAAACK

“Jesus, y’all suck at this,” Hana says into her headset.

“It’s fucking hard, man!” she hears Yoon shout in her ears.

“Seriously, I think Starcraft is more our speed,” Jia concurs.

“Lawbreakers is  _ life _ !” She shouts back. Checking the scoreboard at the end of the game, she and Ian are basically carrying the team.

“Yeah, I’m loving this,” Ian says. “What I’m not loving are the queue times, though.”

“Yeah, no one plays this game,” Leon says.

“ _ We _ play this game!” Hana insists.

Jesse and Sombra hear her shouts from upstairs. “You know, it’s nice to see she’s getting better after the crash,” Jesse says. “But was she always this loud?”

“Trust me, she’s definitely been louder.” Sombra’s been curled up on the couch in a blanket for the past couple hours, drinking tea that Gabe’s been refilling every couple hours. Satya sits in the triangle created by her thighs, calves, and the couch cushions.

“I don’t know why she likes games so much,” Satya says.

“You tried them?” Jesse asks.

“Some of them. A few are okay but I don’t like a lot of them.”

“They’re kinda fun from time to time,” Jesse says. “Hana’s on a whole other level of liking games though.”

“I’d rather make them than play them,” Sombra says. She takes another sip of tea. “Help me up, I have to dilate again.”

“God  _ dammit _ , I just got the image out of my head from last time.”

Before his sister’s surgery, he’d done some reading about the specifics of SRS and the recovery afterwards. Once he was done he started to wish that he hadn’t. Sombra grips his hand and he helps her to her feet and helps her to her room. She’s gotten a bit better at walking since she’d first come home, but moving her legs still hurts quite a bit. He helps her to her bed and leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. Trying to keep the mental picture out of his head, he waits for her to be done so he can walk her back.

 

“Hana, I’m nervous,” Satya confesses. The last week of summer wasted away far too quickly, and they’re down to the last night. In less than 10 hours it’ll be time to get up and go to school.

“Why’s that?”

“I haven’t been to this school before.”

“That’s fine. There’s a few new kids every year, it’s no big deal.”

“What if they don’t like me?”

“Their loss. Everyone gets worried before their first day at a new school, it always goes fine. Just… don’t be as candid as you are around here.”

“What does that mean?”

She pauses to choose her words. “Well, I appreciate that you trust me enough to talk about all the terrible things your last family did to you, you probably shouldn’t use it as an icebreaker when trying to make friends.”

“Do you not want me to talk to you about it?”

“No, that’s not what I mean! There’s a difference between what you talk about with your sister and what you talk about with a classmate you just met.”

“So you’re saying that kind of stuff is stuff you only talk about with people close to you?”

“Exactly.”

“But what if I want to be close to someone? Wouldn’t talking about things that close people talk about make us close?”

“That’s backwards.”

“So how do I make friends?”

“Say hi to whoever’s next to you and introduce yourself. I dunno, there’s no real answer to this, friendship just kind of happens. Worrying about it won’t do anything.”

“I guess. Good night.”

“Night.”

Hana wakes up in a classroom in front of a test she hasn’t prepared for in a language she doesn’t understand. Her mouth goes dry and her thighs start sweating in that uncomfortable way that makes her pants stick to her. She feels vaguely like she’s about to throw up, and she tries to stand but her legs are trembling too badly.

Just as the teacher’s about to collect their test, a car plows through the window and strikes them. She can’t get back to sleep after that. She lies awake in her bed until the morning comes, shivering like it’s freezing and sweating like it’s broiling.

She gets up in the morning with the far too familiar dark circles under her eyes.  _ What a fucking perfect way to start the year _ , she thinks. She puts on her headphones and blasts something loud to try to wake herself up.

Sombra’s already awake once she gets to the living room. She raises the cup of tea she’s drinking when Hana arrives. “Morning.”

“Hey.”

“You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“I will be.”

“Alright,” she shrugs.

Jesse walks out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee and sits in Gabe’s usual chair. “Jeez, you look like ass,” he comments.

“Fuck you,” she groans.

“Did you stay up playing games all night or something?”

She stomps off to the bathroom.

“Oh, what?” he asks. Sombra glares at him. “What??”

She sighs. “Just drink your coffee.” He rolls his eyes and takes a sip.

 

Satya’s nervous, but she lets Jack walk her into her new school. Hana feels a very similar trepidation as she walks through the halls, almost zombie-like from sleep deprivation. Overlapping conversation distorts as she walks through the halls.  _ It’s obvious you’re sleep deprived, and they’re all wondering what you’d even spend the night doing. Couldn’t possibly be going out with friends, no, you’re the loser kid who just stays in all night. Or maybe they’re not looking at the bags under your eyes, it’s all the makeup you used to try and cover it. You look like a whore. And while you were going overboard with the makeup this morning (your brother was totally judging you for that outburst by the way), you couldn’t have tried to cover up that ugly scar while you were at it? I mean, you TRIED, but now you’re just drawing more attention to it. And now you’re self conscious and touching it. _

Her chest feels tight and she’s having trouble breathing as she walks into her first class. It’s Algebra II with a teacher she recognizes but hasn’t met before. Efi sits on the other side of the room near the window and waves her over, an invitation that she readily accepts. Halfway across the room she’s hit with a sudden dizziness, and almost crashes down in her seat.

“You alright?” Efi asks, mildly amused.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she says, trying to match the lightness on her face. “Didn’t sleep much.” As if to punctuate her statement, her lungs force a yawn, trying to draw in the air they can’t seem to get normally. They still don’t feel full.

“End of summer gaming session run too late?” she grins.

“Something like that.”

Efi squints at her, making her self-conscious. “Are you wearing makeup?”

“Uh… yeah.”

“You don’t usually.”

She shrugs. “Figured I’d try it out, I guess.”

“Have you ever done it before?” Hana watches her eyes scan across the face, opening a hot pit in her stomach.

“A couple times.”

“I can teach you, if you want. I mean, I’m pretty sure neither of your dads are that proficient in this.”

“Thanks, I’ll hit you up later then.”

She manages to get through the morning well enough, and she sighs with relief when the lunch bell rings. She hasn’t eaten since last night, and it feels like she’s running on empty. As soon as she gets in the front of the line for pizza, though, her stomach tightens and she feels like she’s about to throw up. She shakes her head. It’s just the cafeteria smell, she’ll be fine once she sits down and starts eating. She takes a slice and a bag of chips, then goes to sit with her friends.

She stows the chips in her backpack for later and tries to choke down the pizza. Despite everything that should say otherwise, her stomach just refuses to be hungry. She eats about half of it before lunch ends.

 

“Hi,” a kid says as they wait for class to start, extending his hand. “My name’s Jake. What’s yours?”

“Satya.” She extends her hand to meet his. He thinks it’s weird that she looks at the floor and avoids his face, but says nothing.

“Are you new here?”

“Yes.”

“Why’d you come here? Did your family move?”

She hesitates. Hana warned her not to be so upfront about what happened to her with new people, but she didn’t think about what to do if they asked. She couldn’t just lie to him, that would be wrong, but she couldn’t tell him the truth either. Her mind races, trying to think of some loophole.

“Satya?” Jake asks, unsure of why she isn’t answering.

She finds her answer. “I hated my old school, so I wanted to go here this year.” There we go. She’s not lying, that’s a completely true statement, she’s just hiding the  _ full _ truth.

“Why are you doing that with your leg?” he asks.

“Hm?” She looks down. Her leg is bouncing up and down under her desk. “Oh. I dunno,” she shrugs. “My dads say I can be hyperactive sometimes.”

Jake doesn’t know why she pluralized “dads” or what “hyperactive” means, so he just says “Cool.”

The teacher quiets the class to try to get started. Without the distraction of someone to talk to, Satya becomes very aware of the fluorescent lights. They’re buzzing. Loudly. Everyone else notices this, right? Is she the only one bothered by this. She looks up at one, and immediately has to look away. They’re too bright. Are all the classrooms like this? Why? LED lights have been around for years, and they don’t hum and they can be dimmer. If a seven year old can figure out a better way, why hasn’t anyone in the school district thought of and implemented this?

She tries to pay attention, but the lights are giving her a headache. They’re not as bad when she walks through the halls to the cafeteria, but the nonstop drone of the other second graders is even worse. She wishes she had a pair of headphones like Hana’s. The cafeteria is absolutely insufferable, and she ends up covering her ears and rocking back and forth to calm herself. The other kids look at her funny, but she doesn’t notice.

 

“How was school today?” Jack asks as Satya tosses her bag into the backseat.

“Loud. I hated it.”

“You hated it? Why?”

“It gave me a headache. The lights are too bright and everyone talks too loud.”

“I’m sure everyone was just excited because it was the first day. Everything will be quieter tomorrow.”

“Promise?”

“Well, I can’t  _ promise _ anything. But I’m sure it’ll be better tomorrow.”

“If… if it’s not better, can I get a pair of headphones to wear?”

“If you want headphones we could get them later tonight,” he starts. “But you won’t be allowed to wear them during class.”

“Why not? I wouldn’t even be listening to anything, I just want to dull the noise.”

“Even if you’re not listening to anything, the teacher will probably still think you’re trying to tune her out. And if one kid’s allowed to wear headphones, everyone else will, and most of them will want to be listening to something.”

Satya sighs. “Why is everything so loud? Why doesn’t anyone else notice or care?”

“Maybe it’s not as loud to them. It could be that you’re just more sensitive to the noise than them.”

“Well, then I should be allowed to wear headphones then, because I need them more than everyone else.”

It’s Jack’s turn to sigh this time. “Well, not everyone’s going to see it this way. Some people might lie and say they’re also highly sensitive to sound. Some people might even think  _ you’re _ making it up so you can wait headphones.”

“That’s not fair.”

“You’re right. But I’ll tell you what. In a few weeks, if it doesn’t get any better, I’ll set up a meeting with your principal and teacher and see if we can’t figure anything out.”

“Promise?”

“I  _ can _ promise this one. If it’s, let’s say the end of October and I forget, just remind me and I’ll get it set up.”

She wants to believe him, but for all she knows this could be just another empty promise. It’s not like she could do anything about it if it was.

 

Hana’s watching YouTube in her room after dinner when Gabe walks in. She’s ridiculously startled by her door opening, and her heart leaps to the point of nausea when he asks if they can talk for a minute. She tries to calm herself, there’s no reason she should be in trouble and no reason for her to be panicking even if she was, but she can’t stop herself from breaking into an uncomfortable nervous sweat.

“Have you and Jesse ever discussed your birth parents at all?”

It takes her a second to realign her thoughts. “Um… yeah, a lot actually, but not for a while. When I was about ten and he was 12 we started discussing who they might be and what we’d do if we could meet them and stuff… but we’d pretty much stopped by the time I was 13.”

“Really? I had no idea.”

“We couldn’t really talk about it with Sombra because she sees her mom every year, and we felt… a little weird bringing it up with you and dad for some reason, so it ended up being our own little private thing.”

“So you talked about this a lot?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

“What do you think he’d say if we told him he could see some information about his birth parents?”

“Really?”

“Yep. There was some legal stuff that your father really understood better than I do, and even though it was a closed adoption, Jesse’s allowed to see some information about his parents. Think he’d want to?”

“Well… by the time we stopped having these talks, we’d pretty much decided that neither of us wanted to go looking for our birth parents, but we’d probably take any information on them we could get. So I think he would.”

“Let’s go ask him.”

 

Over the weekend, Gabe and Jack drive Jesse to the courthouse to see the information about his birth parents. Even though he’s not meeting anyone, he’s still dressed fairly nice in a button up short sleeved shirt and dressy black pants. He’s nervous, and tries to figure out exactly what he’s expecting or hoping for. He can’t. He’s getting the information simply because it’s information he can get.

Jesse’s allowed to pick up a thin file with the name  _ McCree _ written on it. Unable to wait to open it, he and his fathers find a table to sit at while he opens the file.

_ Mother’s name: Sarah McCree. Born 2/24/1980. Blonde hair, green eyes, fair skin. 5’4”, 150 lbs. At time of child’s birth, worked as an elementary school teacher. _

Interesting. He doesn’t look much like his mother, based on the description given. There’s no picture, maybe he has her nose or cheekbones or something. She would’ve been only 19 when she had him. She probably wasn’t married to his father at the time, meaning McCree (the name she would’ve given him) was her name, not his father’s. He turns the page.

_ Father’s name: Isaac Rothberg. Born 3/16/1972. Black hair, brown eyes, tan skin. 6’2, 200 lbs. Serving 50 years in prison for four counts of sexual assault. _

His dads watch, concerned, as his jaw and fists clench and unclench. His face, both scared and enraged, flushes red than pales. Wordlessly, he drops the file on the table and starts walking away.

“Jesse!” Gabe calls. He twitches but says nothing in response.

Jack picks up the lonely third and last page in the file, a note from Jesse’s mother the night she put him up for adoption.

_ I thought I could do it, but I can’t. I look at him and I should be happy, but all I see is his father. I can’t raise him, it wouldn’t be fair to him or me. I just pray that the family who takes him in can protect him from people like his father. Jesse, if you ever get to see this-- I’m sorry. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so this was originally published as separate works within the same series because you could just read one without the others but as I've gone on each part's been more and more dependent on the previous parts, so after I finish up "Autumn" (probably by NEXT Autumn at this rate) I'll be posting the entire series as a single work and post new chapters in there


	2. Return to bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hana's anxiety gets worse and so do Jesse's fears about who he might become

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy new year

When he gets home, he practically barges into Hana’s room, sending her heart rate flying. “Hana, can I talk to you alone for a minute?”

She looks at Satya, sitting on her bed reading a book. “Why?”

“It’s a personal thing.”

“Why do you need to talk to  _ her _ ? Why not Sombra?”

“It’s about my birth parents.”

“And?”

He sighs. “It turns out they’re not very nice people.” Hana starts to get nervous, and her mind races trying to figure out what he could’ve possibly found out.

“Mine aren’t either.”

“Mine are a different kind of not very nice.” His heart skips a beat.  _ God, I hope they’re a different kind of not very nice. _

“How so?”

He falters for a second. “My father did something really bad and he’s in prison for it. Now—”

“What did he do.”

He tries to look her in the eyes, but she’s been staring at the wall next to him for the entire conversation. “Satya. Please. I don’t want to tell you. Can I please talk to Hana alone for a couple minutes?”

He expects her to put up an argument, but she shrugs and walks towards the living room.

“Dude, what the hell happened?”

He sighs. “I’m a rape baby. My mom gave me up because she couldn’t stand to look at me.” His voice is low and quiet. Saying it out loud for the first time makes it feel real.

“Oh my God.”

“I shouldn’t even… I shouldn’t have been born.”

“Jesse, no—”

“I’m the product of a violation, Hana! A crime!”

“But—”

“Imagine what happened to my mother. There was a reason I was on the adoption shortlist, she tried to keep me but she couldn’t stand to look at me! There were descriptions of my parents in there! I don’t look anything like my mom, I’m walking around looking like a rapist!”

“You’re not—”

“This guy’s my  _ father _ ! I’m related to this guy! What if there’s some sort of, I don’t know, genetic thing, and some day I—”

“Jesse!” she shouts, before realizing she has nothing to say. “I… it’s not gonna be some genetic thing, okay? Look how mad you are about this, you’re not gonna wake up some day and decide to… to… do what he did.”

“You don’t know! Some mental illnesses don’t manifest until your twenties, what if… if…”

“Jesse, stop, please. You’re my brother, I know you, you’re not—”

“Oh my God, he did this to two other women, at least! What if I have a half brother or sister somewhere? I don’t even, like, are they okay? I don’t even know if they exist, but, like, did they get put up for adoption? Did their mom try to keep them?”

“I—”

“This settles it, I’m not having children ever, I can’t. If I even decide I want them then I’m adopting, I’m not letting this guy’s bloodline go any further than me.”

“Jesse, come here.” She pulls him into a tight hug, both their eyes watering. She can feel how wound up he is. “You’re gonna be okay.”

“I know, I know. It’s just… I’m so angry. I feel so lost.”

“Have you told anyone else?”

“Dads also read the file, but no, I haven’t told Sombra or Hanzo or Lena or anyone. I don’t know if I will.”

“You… you’re not where you came from. No one is. You’re not gonna be determined by something terrible done by someone you never met.”

He nods. “I know. You’re right, thanks. It’s just… I feel like I have to be angry for a little while.”

“As long as it doesn’t get in your way.”

He nods. “Thanks for talking. Need anything?”

Shaking her head almost feels like lying. “Nope. Thanks.”

He leaves feeling better, but by the time he gets back to his room he feels worse again. A single look into the mirror reminds him of who he looks like. A familiar dull throb of subdued lust at the Lara Croft poster on his wall sickens him. He holds on to the hope that he’ll get over it soon. He feels like he’s going to need it.

 

Satya walks to the living room, empty except for Sombra lying on the couch. “Can I ask you some stuff?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“So you’re a girl now, right?”

“Well, I’ve been a girl for a long time now.”

“But didn’t you just get the surgery a couple weeks ago?”

“Yes, but a girl doesn’t have to be male or female. If someone feels like a girl, then they’re a girl and deserves to be treated as such.”

She nods. “That’s what I wanted to ask about. How did you know you were a girl?”

“When I hit puberty, I just started getting really uncomfortable in my body. For a while, I thought it was normal, that it would go away soon. Eventually I started to realize that my mind wasn’t in the right body. Fortunately, dads were nice enough to help me through it. Once I fully recover from the surgery, I’ll finally be comfortable.”

“My parents probably wouldn’t have.”

Sombra shakes her head. “Lot of families don’t. It’s really sad, they’re willing to force their kids to be super uncomfortable and upset for no real reason.”

“There’s still something I don’t really get.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t really know what it means to ‘feel like a girl’. I  _ know _ I’m a girl, but I don’t get what it means to feel like one. Or what it means to feel like a boy, either.”

“Maybe you just see things differently. There’s lots of people that don’t feel like a boy or a girl, or that feel like both.”

“I don’t know if that’s it, either.”

“Well, you’re only seven. You’ve got plenty of time to get this figured out. You don’t even necessarily have to ‘figure it out’ at all, as long as you’re comfortable.”

Satya nods. “Alright. Thanks.”

“Can I ask you something?”

She nods.

“Why don’t you look people in the eye when you talk to them?” Satya’s been staring at the pictures hanging on the wall the entire time they’d been talking.

She shrugs. “It feels weird. It’s like both people are seeing more than the other person wants them to. I don’t like it.”

_ There’s no way this kid is seven _ , she thinks. “Well, a lot of people do like making eye contact, and some people won’t like you if you don’t look them in the eyes.”

“Are you one of those people?”

“Not at all. But in the future, like teachers, or classmates, or even employers down the line.”

She nods. “Why?”

Sombra shrugs. “I really don’t know. It’s just one of those things. Most people feel like you’re not acknowledging them if you’re not making eye contact.”   
“But I can listen and respond without it. That doesn’t make any sense.”

“There’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t make sense, babe.”

 

_ Listen Here You Little Shits --(Jesse, Lena, Hanzo, Angela, Fareeha --Active Now) _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: OI _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: JESSE _

_ meDICK: Is he back? _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: It says he’s online _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: Might just be ignoring us _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: Fits in with the GENERAL EDGINESS he’s been indulging in _

_ Handsoap: He says he doesn’t feel like talking right now _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: FUCK that _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: He hasn’t felt like talking all week _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: I’m messaging him _

 

_ Lena: OI _

_ Jesse: Hey. _

_ Lena: What’s the matter? _

_ Jesse: Don’t feel like talking about it. _

_ Lena: I’ve known you for, what, ten years now? _

_ Lena: Eleven? _

_ Lena: Nine? _

_ Lena: Point is it’s a long time and there’s basically nothing we’ve ever kept from each other _

_ Jesse: I just REALLY don’t want to get into it _

_ Lena: Have you told Hanzo? _

_ Jesse: My dads know and I told Hana _

_ Jesse: That’s as far as I want it to go. _

_ Lena: uuuuuuugh _

_ Lena: Fiiiiiiiiiine _

_ Lena: But can you at least come hang out with us? _

_ Lena: You’ve been gone all week _

 

_ Jesse removed his nickname _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: HE LIVES _

_ meDICK: Why the name change? _

_ Jesse: I don’t want to be a cowboy anymore. _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: Awe why? _

_ Jesse: I just _

_ Jesse: Don’t _

_ Jesse: I’m just gonna go to bed, I’ll see you in school tomorrow _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: I’m coming over _

_ Jesse: Don’t _

_ Jesse: I just want to be alone for a bit _

_ Lena the Hedgehog: Not getting rid of me that easy _

 

_ Hanzo: Lena _

_ Hanzo: I know you and Jesse have been friends for a long time _

_ Hanzo: But do you think it would be better if I went over _

_ Lena: Nope _

_ Lena: I mean I’m sure you could help _

_ Lena: And if you want to come with I can’t really stop you _

_ Lena: But there’s some stuff I wanna say and I think I’m really the only one who can say it right? _

_ Lena: So I’m going. _

 

She’s knocking on the front door only minutes later. She says a quick “hello” to Gabe when he lets her in before sprinting up the stairs and barging into Jesse’s room.

“Lena, what the fuck?”

“Look. I don’t need to know what’s bothering you if you really don’t want to tell me. But if I  _ can’t _ help deal with it, don’t make me want to!”

“What?”

“That came out weird. Look, if you really don’t want our help, you gotta stop moping around. We  _ want _ to help you, we’re all friends, it’s what we’re here for. And if you keep moping around like this, it’s gonna annoy the crap out of us because we feel like we should be helping but you won’t let us!”

“Look, can’t I just be upset for a while?”

“As long as you’re alright with me checking up on you.”

He groans. “Fine. I’m fine. Can I be alone now?”

“In a minute.”

“Ugh.”

“Remember when we were in the hospital? That talk you gave me when it was only us awake?” He doesn’t answer. “I think I finally get how you felt then. I miss you, c-” she stops herself before calling him ‘cowboy’. “See you tomorrow.” With a gentle squeeze of his shoulder, she leaves him alone in the darkness.

 

Staring at the math test in front of her and taking forever to process and understand it is familiar to her. The sudden disorientation and discomfort while doing so is new. Her eyes flick over to the water bottle on the edge of her desk, which she’d greedily finished as the test was being passed out. She wish she kept it, her mouth feels like sandpaper and swallowing leaves a grating sensation on her throat and  _ oh my god why am I sweating so much it’s cold in here! _

Her hands feel weird. She pauses to look at them, and she can’t figure out why, they  _ look _ fine, they  _ feel _ fine, but when she tries to control them they seem to move a fraction of a second too late. The more she tries to ignore it, the worse it seems to get. When she breathes, it feels like her ribs don’t want to move and her lungs strain against them. Her mind starts clouding, and for a second she’s convinced she’s either about to pass out or wake up in her room.

She has to suppress a gasp as her intact ribs press against her unbruised side and create the same pain as trying to breathe after the crash. When she tries again, the pain is gone, and she has to wonder if it was ever there in the first place. She presses her hand to her side, confirming that the bruise is completely gone.

A look at the clock shocks her into a panic. She’s spent ten minutes spacing out instead of trying to take the test. For a second, she’s shockingly aware of every part of her: the dull headache, her dry, itchy eyes, her sore throat, her seemingly malfunctioning fingers, her shirt sticking to her back, her bra suddenly digging into her, her upset stomach, her legs cramping up…

Then it fades. It doesn’t go away, but it fades, only to be replaced by a sudden dizziness. She’s not her, she’s not in her body, it’s like she’s floating above her, watching, but she’s still looking through her own eyes, and all the cramps and discomfort and pains are coming back full force and she’s suddenly completely unsure of where she is but none of that matters because she’s about to throw up and  _ oh god I need to go to the nurse NOW! _

“Mr. Chamberlain!” she’s speaking quietly, but it feels like she shouted it and she’s suddenly super self conscious.

“Yes, Hana?”

“I need,”  _ oh god, is this what I sound like? _ She’s not hearing the voice in her head, this must be what she  _ actually  _ sounds like,  _ how can anyone stand to listen to me? Why does anyone watch NOW IS NOT THE TIME, HANA! _ “I need to go to the nurse.”

“Can you finish the test first?”

She shakes her head, her brain lazily smacking against her skull.

He sighs. “Alright. Come by during lunch tomorrow and you can retake it.”

She nods, and rushes out of the room. Moving doesn’t feel right, parts of her are too fast and other parts are too slow and she still feels like her mind’s outside her but her brain is still in her  _ there’s no way I’m making it to the nurse just please let the bathroom be empty… _

 

“You’re home early,” Sombra remarks as Hana walks into the living room just after 11. She cranes her head to look out the window, and sees Gabe pulling out of the driveway and heading back to work. “You alright?”

She shakes her head.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Maybe later.” Her voice is weak and betrays exhaustion. “I just need to lie down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter out maybe hopefully sometime this month (please comment it’s the only thing that validates me)


	3. (Please) Return to the Principal's Office

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

It’s a beautiful October afternoon, among the last of the year before the mid-Autumn chill sets in near the end of the month. Both gym classes are outside, a group of seniors and a group of sophomores, playing soccer or football or frisbee or just walking around the track and talking.

Hana and Efi, with no interest in any of the listed sports, opt to join the dozen or so other kids on the track. “I’m not quite sure what you mean,” Efi says, frowning.”

“It’s just so hard to explain. It’s like… well it kinda feels like I’m dreaming, first of all, which just makes the whole thing worse. Everything gets floaty and slow. When I talk it sounds like it’s coming from someone else. Usually I get nauseous, but not always. It’s just so disorienting and it happens at the worst times.”

“Wait… did this happen in English yesterday? You got all tense and pale? I wanted to check if you were alright when class was over, but you bolted as soon as the bell rang.”

“Yep. That was it.”

“If it happens and I’m, like, there, is there anything I should do?”

She sighs. “I… I dunno. I’m not sure if there’s anything I can do besides wait it out.”

“But can—”

“Oh, well would’ja look at that.” Hana breaks out in goosebumps as an unstable tenor wavers through the air.

Efi rolls her eyes as the girls turn around. “What the hell does  _ that _ mean, Jamison?” Despite the fact that he has almost a foot and a half on her, and his silent cohort outweighs the two of them and then some, she’s thoroughly unintimidated.

Both Mako and Jamison are seniors, Mako being a year older but having failed once and forced to repeat. After both of them got unanimously booted out of the football game for poor sportsmanship and the occasional brutality, they scoped out Hana as an easy target and approached.

“Well, her dads are gay, it only makes sense that she’d go off and try to find herself a girlfriend,” he casts a cursory glance at Efi, who stares back, unamused. “You could do better. Maybe someone of the Asian persuasion, like yourself.” Both girls wrinkle their faces in disgust.

“Fuck off, Jamie.”

“Oh, I see, must be because you got that scar on your face, no one wanted you so you had to go sniffing around elsewhere.”

Across the field, Jesse squints over at them. “That’s not… is that Jamie and Mako?”

“Looks like it,” Lena says. “Let’s go.” They start jogging across the field.

“Aww, look at her. She’s shaking.” She flinches and tries to pull away as he grabs her by the wrist. He’s right, it is trembling in his wrist. She’s having trouble breathing and her heart is fluttering. She’s terrified, convinced that something terrible’s about to happen, she’s about to be hurt, tortured,  _ killed _ , and oh god why can she hear the car and why is it taking so long to hit her it’s agonizing,  _ agonizingly _ slow, time’s not running properly, the car’s about to hit and she knows what it’s going to sound like, waiting for the ear-shattering crash, the scream ready to escape her once again but  _ why isn’t it happening _ —

“Pathetic, isn’t she?” He drops her wrist, practically shoving her away from him. Mako nods, silent as ever. “I can see why her birth parents didn’t want her.” Despite being free, able to run, she just freezes, the panic as present as ever. It’s all she can do not to break down crying.

“Jamison, no matter—” Efi starts, a “small penis” comment at the ready.

“Stay out of this,” Mako says, his voice low and gravelly, staring directly into her eyes. She goes quiet against her will.

“Honestly, it’s shocking that _ you’re _ the normal one in that family. That oldest brother of yours is sick in the head if he—”

The metal in Jesse’s hand that allows him basic motor function cracks against Jamison’s skull. As he starts to fall, Jesse grabs him by the arm and pulls him in for another hit to the head, his hand throbbing. Hana and Efi step back in surprise, Hana pulled into sudden clarity. Lena watches, wide eyed, shocked at his sudden show.

“Get over here!” Mako grunts, reaching out and yanking him in with surprising strength. Lena gasps as he punches her friend in the mouth, and runs in to try to free him.

To Hana, it always seemed like their new gym teacher didn’t move like a normal person. She thought she was back to normal for the moment, but she has to question it when it seems like Coach O. leaps high into the air and launches himself towards them, arriving within seconds.

“Enough!” He roars. Pulling Jesse and Mako apart. Jesse’s bleeding from his hand and mouth, and he struggles against the massive fist gripping the back of his shirt. Mako, his flabby shoulder starting to bruise where Lena had punched him repeatedly, doesn’t resist. “All of you, to Principal Kaplan’s office.” He speaks with a thick, powerful accent. “Now!”

 

Jesse, Hana, Lena, and Efi stand on one side of the office, waiting for their parents to show up. Jamison and Mako are in another room, where they can’t see them.

Jesse’s mouth is still bleeding, and he has to hold a piece of gauze inside his cheek where Mako cut it. Fortunately, none of his teeth were knocked out, but a couple are loose. His hand is wrapped tightly in gauze, and he’ll probably have to see someone to reset the metal in his hand. He’s still seething, pacing around and trying to calm himself. Lena and Efi are fairly level headed, now that the adrenaline’s gone they can start planning what they’ll say when Kaplan questions them.

Despite the fact that she did nothing wrong, and she  _ knows _ she did nothing wrong, Hana’s still terrified. The feeling of impending terror is long gone, replaced with the childish fear of simply being in the principal’s office waiting for her parents. Times a hundred, because that’s just the state she’s in.

Efi and Hana are called into questioning. Efi has to hold Hana up because her legs are shaking so hard. She hardly speaks as Efi retells their story to Principal Kaplan.

Over an agonizingly slow half-hour, all four kids are questioned and four out of their six parents have arrived. In the other room, Jamison waits with his mom and Mako waits with no one. Once Kaplan’s finished with Jesse and Lena, he opens the door and calls everyone else in to join him around a long conference table.

Hana sits down next to Jesse, and Jack next to them. Lena’s parents are on either side of her, with Efi’s dad next to them and Efi on the end. Mako, Jamison, and Mrs. Fawkes face them on the other side.

“So…” Kaplan says, rubbing his face before starting. “Here’s what happened as I understand it. Hana and Efi were talking during gym, and Jamison and Mako came over and started harassing them. Despite Jamison’s claim that they were “just talking”, Hana became visibly uncomfortable and the boys were asked to leave, and they did not. Jesse saw Jamison grab his sister by the wrist and shove her, got angry, and attacked Jamison. Mako restrained and punched Jesse, which then lead to Lena striking him.”

“I didn’t touch her, we were just talking,” Jamison insists.

“Yes he did!” Efi shouts. Every noise feels like a personal assault on Hana’s brain. She closes her eyes and tries in vain to relax herself.

“You’ve never liked my kid,” Mrs. Fawkes accuses. “You’ve had it out for him since ninth grade. And now, now, now you set this whole thing up, try to defame him, but it won’t work! My Jamie would  _ never _ do anything like this, and  _ that _ kid,” she points to Jesse, “should be  _ expelled _ for viciously attacking my son like that!”

“Mrs. Fawkes, I’m sorry, but at least four kids and a teacher saw your son intimidating another student, a girl in sophomore year no less. Now, for the—”

“You can’t—”

“Mrs. Fawkes, you are doing your son no favors here. Hana, Efi, you two will receive no punishment. Lena, for getting involved with a fight that was already occurring, we have no choice but to give you an out of school suspension. As it was your first offense, however, it will only be for one day.”

She nods, quietly. While she’s mostly sure her parents won’t punish her further at home, there’s that bit of uncertainty that worries her.

“Jamison, for harassment and intimidation, and the fact that you’ve received multiple warnings, you’ll have four days of in-school suspension, starting tomorrow.”

“You should be ashamed, Mister Kaplan.” He bites back an “I should be a lot of things” remark, and quietly waits for her to continue. “I know my Jamie, and he would  _ not _ have been talking to those girls unless they had said something to him first. And you’re giving him  _ four days _ of suspension and not punishing them at  _ all _ ?”

“Well, neither Jamison, Mako, or Coach Ogundimu reported any interaction between the girls and the boys before the boys approached them and started harassing them. So yes, I am suspending your son and not punishing Hana or Efi.”

“This is unacceptable! You can’t do this! I’ll sue the district. I will  _ ruin _ this school!” Mrs. Fawkes grabs her son by the hand and leads him out of the office. The parents and students watch, all in some measure of shock or incredulity.”

“Anyway… Jesse, because you escalated to a physical fight, and you weren’t provoked directly, I have no choice but to give you a three day out of school suspension.” He sighs and nods. “I’m sorry, it’s district policy. Use it to finish up college applications or get your hand fixed up.” He feels guilty looking at the kid with the set jaw staring at a point on the wall, but he doesn’t have a choice. “Mr. Morrison, there’s a letter we have to put in his record that says he got in a fight, but you or your husband are more than welcome to write your own letter that says he was just defending his sister.”

“We’ll do that, thank you.”

“If none of you want to appeal or ask anything, then you four and your parents are free to go. There’s only one class left, so you can either go back or you can sign out now. Mako, you stay here. You’ve committed a number of infractions over your years here and we need to have a serious talk about your future at this school.”

They file out of the office. “Thank you,” Hana whispers to Jesse. He nods. “You alright?”

He shrugs. “I’ll talk to you when we get home.”

Efi rolls her eyes but listens when her dad sends her back to class, while Jesse, Hana, and Lena get signed out.

“Not bad, Jesse,” Lena says. “Got a five-day weekend out of that.” He shrugs, staring at the ground. “Well, I’m sure you’ll be celebrating once the bleeding stops. See ya!”

Hana and Jesse climb into their dad’s car. “Both of you alright?” Hana nods, the faraway look in her eyes betraying her. “Jesse? Can you move your fingers?”

“Ugh, mostly. I can… agh!” He groans as his fingers are more or less locked in place.

“Alright, we’ll get that checked out after we get Satya. But before then! Either of you up for ice cream?”

“Yes,” Hana says almost immediately.

“Wait, so… I’m not in trouble?”

“Well, I wish you hadn’t hit the kid. But I also wish that said kid wasn’t harassing my daughter, so it breaks even. Just don’t do it again.”

 

Sombra’s doing her homework on the couch when her sisters get home. She notices Satya finishing up the cup of double forbidden chocolate with chocolate sprinkles and chocolate syrup as they walk in the door. “Hey, any chance you brought some for me?”

“Nope,” Satya says, licking the spoon.

She sees the car pull away. “Where’s dad going?”

“Taking Jesse back to the hospital,” Hana says. She fills her in on Jamison harassing her (leaving out the comments he’d made about Sombra), Jesse hitting him and messing up his hand, Lena and Jesse getting suspended, and then going out for ice cream.

“Holy shit. Are you both alright?”

“I dunno. It’s just… I dunno.”

“Well, we had about a week of all four of us all being in school for a full day, I guess that’s good enough.”

“When’s Jesse coming back?” Satya asks.

“A couple hours, maybe. Not sure. Why?”

“I wanna talk to him.”

“What about?”

She’s quiet for a second. “I don’t know yet.”

 

_ Jesse: Sorry if this is taking a while _

_ Jesse: I can only really use my left hand _

_ Hanzo: It’s quite alright _

_ Hanzo: Other than your hand and face, you’re alright? _

_ Jesse: I’m a little scared to be honest _

_ Jesse: I’ve been *so angry* for the last three or so weeks _

_ Jesse: And when I hit him it was, like _

_ Jesse: Perfect _

_ Hanzo: Perfect? _

_ Jesse: Like it was exactly what was supposed to happen _

_ Jesse: I think it’s like what Angela feels when she, well, does the opposite of punching someone _

_ Hanzo: You felt like you were realizing your destiny? _

_ Jesse: Yeah, exactly! _

_ Jesse: But I don’t want my destiny to be “guy who punches people” _

_ Hanzo: It probably only felt good because you were letting out a bunch of built up anger on someone who deserved it _

_ Hanzo: I don’t believe in destiny, for what it’s worth _

_ Hanzo: You forge your own path, there’s no predetermined route for anyone _

_ Hanzo: You won’t become that guy if you try not to. _

_ Jesse: I hope you’re right _

_ Hanzo: I’m still curious what’s been upsetting you  _

_ Jesse: Promise not to tell anyone? _

_ Hanzo: Of course _

_ Jesse: My birth father raped my mother _

_ Jesse: She gave me up because she couldn’t stand to look at him _

_ Jesse: I look like him _

_ Jesse: I’m carrying his genes _

_ Hanzo: I’m surprised you care so much _

_ Jesse: And everything that I ever do will all be because of a horrific abomination _

_ Jesse: What? Wdym? _

_ Hanzo: You almost never talk about your birth parents _

_ Hanzo: As far as I can remember, the only time I’ve heard you mention then was when I asked and you told me you didn’t really care _

_ Hanzo: And you’ve never been one to dwell on things you can’t do anything about _

_ Jesse: Yeah, I guess _

_ Jesse: It’s like this whole thing knocked everything I knew about myself out of whack _

_ Hanzo: Are you scared of becoming him? _

_ Jesse: I don’t know _

_ Hanzo: I don’t see how you could _

_ Hanzo: Considering how much you hate him _

_ Jesse: Doc’s calling me in now _

_ Jesse: Thx for listening _

_ Hanzo: Talk to you soon _

_ Hanzo: Hopefully it goes without saying, but I’m not going to cast any judgement because of your parentage. _

He hopes Jesse will do him the same courtesy if he ever has to meet the leader of the Shimada clan.

 

Satya doesn’t get to talk to Jesse until after dinner. She opens his door and paces around in a circle as he sits in the bed, doing the exercises the doctor recommended.

“How’d you hurt your hand?”

“I, uh, hit someone. Which is bad, and you shouldn’t do it.”

“Are you in trouble for it?”

“Yeah, my principal said I can’t come to school the next few days.”

“That doesn’t sound like much of a punishment. And if you’re being punished, why did you get ice cream earlier?”

“Little tip, dads usually won’t punish you when you make a mistake as long as it’s the first time. Yeah, I shouldn’t have punched the guy, but since I haven’t punched anyone before they’re gonna be a lot more lenient.”

“Why’d you punch him?”

“He was… d’you have to pace around like that? It’s making me dizzy.”

“Why are you dizzy? I’m the one moving.”

“Because… nevermind. Basically, the guy was being really mean to Hana, and she was getting really upset, so I got angry and hit him.”

“If he did it again, would you hit him again?”

“Maybe.”

“But you’re in trouble for doing it this time.”

“It’s just… I don’t even know what else I would do.”

“Hitting people’s against the rules.”

“Sure is.”

“But being mean to people’s also against the rules, isn’t it?”

“Yep.”

“Is the guy you hit in trouble?”

“Yeah, he has to spend the next four school days alone in a special room with only an administrator.”

“It sounds like he got a worse punishment than you.”

“Sure hope he did.”

“So you broke the rules because someone else broke the rules… is that what you’re supposed to do?”

“Now that’s one of life’s big, unanswered questions.”

“If someone was being mean to me, would you hit them?”

“Well, if they were your age, I’d probably just yell at them a bit. If they were older, maybe.”

“Can you come to my school soon?”

“Why? Is someone being mean to you?”

“It’s Ethan and Jackson. They make fun of me because I pace around during lunch and rock back and forth during class. They shout in my ears and once they brought a flashlight to shine at my face because they know I hate it.”

“Sh— oot,” he catches himself. “Did you tell the teacher?”

“She says boys pick on girls because they like them. But if they like me why do they make me feel bad?”

“Yeah, that’s bull…” he cuts himself off again, and completely fails to find a perfectly clean word to replace “shit” with. “... crap. Boys don’t pick on girls because they like them, they do it because they can get away with it. Come on, we should talk to dad.”

“Okay.” She follows him outside. “Is there chocolate downstairs?”

“Not tonight, kiddo, we already had ice cream.”

They find Gabe in the living room with Hana. “Dad, can I talk to you?”

“Sure. In private?” She nods.

“Do you want me to—” Jesse starts.

“No,” she cuts him off.

“Alright.”

“You,” Hana says.

“Me?”

“Help. You read  _ Dracula _ , right?”

“Hell yeah! Only book I liked from Sophomore year.”

“Alright, there’s a question on my homework asking about the significance of a certain scene on these two pages, but my brain’s just, like, fried, and I’ve read it three times and nothing’s sticking.”

“Let me see.” She hands him the book. “Oh, yeah, the blood transfusion,” he chuckles. “Teach got mad at us cause we couldn’t stop laughing about this. Basically, blood’s a metaphor for semen in here, so when she gets the blood transfusion from all the guys it’s basically like having an orgy.”

The corners of her mouth turn up. “Gross.”

“Yeah, and later when Dracula finds Mina and… tries to turn her, it’s basically… forcing himself… yeah.”

Her face falls. “Oh. Sorry.”

He sighs. “It’s fine. It’s just…” he trails off, holding his thumb in place to keep her page. “Actually…” his eyes land on a name.  _ Van Helsing _ .

“Can I, uh, have the book back?”

“One sec…” The idea of dressing up as a cowboy disgusts him for some reason, suddenly epitomizing everything he started to fear about his destiny. Champion of a lawless wasteland where might makes right and you take what you want… he couldn’t do that again.

Of course, not doing anything for Halloween would be a travesty. As a seventeen year old high school senior, it’s gonna be his last one, so he’s been racking his brain thinking of an alternative. And now it’s finally landed in his lap.

“I think I got something.” He starts walking towards his room to plan it out.

“Hey! My book?”

“Right, right. Sorry.” He hands it back, then runs back up to his room.

“Weirdo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God DAMN I wrote this over the last like 27ish hours hope it doesn't show lmao


	4. Return to the Bakery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did someone say "chapter focusing almost entirely on Satya and Gabe"? Because that's what you're getting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright I originally intended to do this in the same chapter as Halloween but this ran 3000 words long so THAT's not happening (also we just broke 40K words!) so this is just getting posted as-is and I'll give you the Halloween chapter... eventually

“One sec…” The idea of dressing up as a cowboy disgusts him for some reason, suddenly epitomizing everything he started to fear about his destiny. Champion of a lawless wasteland where might makes right and you take what you want… he couldn’t do that again.

Of course, not doing anything for Halloween would be a travesty. As a seventeen year old high school senior, it’s gonna be his last one, so he’s been racking his brain thinking of an alternative. And now it’s finally landed in his lap.

“I think I got something.” He starts walking towards his room to plan it out.

“Hey! My book?”

“Right, right. Sorry.” He hands it back, then runs back up to his room.

“Weirdo.”

“Satya, Ethan, can you come here a moment?” Jake’s a little relieved that Satya was called up to Ms. Robinson’s desk, pacing around with her was getting a bit tiring and he felt weird doing so, but he’s a little worried because the Ms. Robinson looks upset.

Satya notices her most recent test in the teacher’s hand. “Did I do a bad job?”

“No, Satya,” Ms. Robinson answers. “You did very well. So did you, Ethan.”

“Really?” He looks excited.

“Yes. Too well. I’m not surprised Satya got a check plus, but you? You couldn’t have done this yourself.”

“What?”

“I knew it was a mistake putting you next to the smartest girl in the class. I trusted you, Ethan, but you broke my trust. Both of you will get zeroes on this test, and you’ll both have to take the next test during recess, on opposite sides of the room.”

“I didn’t—”

“What?” Satya shouts. “Why do I get a zero?”

“He wouldn’t be able to cheat if you covered your paper better. It’s always been my policy, punish both the cheater and whoever allowed them to cheat. That way I know you’ll be more careful this time.”

“I didn’t cheat!”

“That’s not fair! You can’t do that! I, I, I worked hard for that, you can’t… It’s not my fault he cheated!”   
“I didn’t!” he shouts again. Both kids look like they’re on the verge of tears.

“I’ll deal with you in a minute,” she says to Ethan. “Satya, I’ve been a teacher for twenty years. I know that if someone cheats, it’s because whoever they cheated off of didn’t try hard enough to stop them.”

“No! It’s—”

“Satya, do  _ not _ yell at me.” She starts lecturing, her voice grating into Satya’s ears. An angry sort of energy rips at her stomach, begging to get out, threatening to take control of her feet and hands and mouth so she’s jump and stomp and hit and throw things and shout until it’s all gone and Ms. Robinson realizes how horrible she’s being.

But she remembers when she used to do that, back with her old family, her dad would grab her by the arm or the ear and drag her home and put her in the “time out” closet that was so small she felt like she was suffocating and her brother would bang on the closet and laugh when she whimpered and wouldn’t let her out until after dinner. She can’t have another tantrum, she’s too terrified of the consequences.

But she has to do something, everything’s so bright and loud that it’s starting to hurt her. Through the fuzziness in her ears she hears her teacher yell at her to stop twitching, and she can’t stop herself. She kicks a desk out of the way and sprints out of the room. Ms. Robinson yells at her to come back and she feels everyone staring at her, but she doesn’t care. The girl’s bathroom is only a couple feet away and she barrels through the door and locks herself in one of the stalls, sitting on top of the toilet leaning against the wall.

 

“Oh jeez,” Gabe says when he checks his cell phone and sees that it’s the elementary school. “Caleb!” he calls into the back of the bakery. A college-age kid peeks out. “You might have to cover for me up front for a bit.”

“No problem, boss.”

He takes the call. “Hello? Yes, that’s me. Really? What happened? Well yeah, that sounds unfair to me too! Alright, I’ll be right over.”

“I’ll be back soon,” he says, tacking on an “I hope” under his breath. Caleb nods and takes his place behind the counter as he rushes out.

When he arrives at the elementary school, Satya’s sitting on a couch in the principal’s office rocking back and forth with her eyes closed. Gabe sits down next to her and starts rubbing her back.

“Can you  _ please _ make her stop that?” Ms. Robinson demands.

“No. She’s incredibly anxious and this is how she lets it out.”

“It’s very distracting.”

“You work with seven year olds all day. You should be able to manage. Now, why am I here?”

The principal speaks up, and as soon as he opens his mouth Gabe knows that he much prefers Principal Kaplan in the high school. “Your, ah, ‘daughter’ had a meltdown in class today that involved her screaming at the teacher, kicking a desk, and evacuating the classroom without permission.”

“I see.” Satya starts swinging her legs. “And what exactly sparked this meltdown?” He knows what happened, of course, he’d been filled in over the phone at the bakery, but he wants to hear it in person, see if Principal Lengyel uses any language that Gabe can use against him.

“Your daughter—”

“You don’t have to call her ‘your daughter’. She has a name.”

“Fine. Satya was punished by Ms. Robinson for being involved in an incident that involved cheating on a test—”

Gabe goes on the aggressive. “An incident that involved cheating? Sorry, what do you mean by that?”

Lengyel pushes back. “Ms. Robinson has reason to believe that Satya allowed another student to copy off her on a recent test.”

“And that reason to believe is?”

“Ethan always had trouble with math, I have a hard time believing that… will you stop that?” She’s suddenly aware that Satya’s aggressively tapping on the wooden arm of the chair with her fingernails. Gabe puts his hand on his thigh, palm up, and lets her tap that instead.

“As I was saying, I have a hard time believing that Ethan could’ve gotten a score that high on a math test without copying someone else’s answers.”

“So what you’re saying,” Gabe starts, half incredulous, “is that you punished my daughter because you  _ think _ someone copied off her test, and you don’t even have any evidence that he did?”

“What are you trying to say here, Mr. Reyes?” Lengyel narrows his eyes at him. Satya’s suddenly very aware of a woman sitting at a desk to the side of Lengyel’s, studying her intently. She tries to shrink into her father.

“What I’m saying is…” he pauses, looks at his daughter, the teacher, the principal, then back at his daughter. He takes a deep breath. “I’d like to sign Satya out of school for the rest of the day.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m her father and legal guardian, it’s within my rights to sign her out of school early. I’d like to do that.”

“I need to assign her punishment,” Ms. Robinson says.

“Well, I disagree, but you’re the teacher. However, you can do that when she returns to school. For now, I think it’s best for everyone if she leaves school for the day.”

“Alright,” Lengyel says, defeated. “Talk to the secretary.”

“Thank you. Have an excellent day.” He takes Satya’s hand and walks her out to the front desk.

“Why did you do that?” Satya asks once they’re outside.

“Did you want to stay?”

“No.” She’s quiet for a couple seconds. “Am I in trouble?”

“Did you do anything that should get you in trouble?”

“I left the room without permission.”

“Well, I can’t really blame you for that, if I had a crazy teacher screaming at me about something that idiotic I would’ve left too.”

“Where are we going?” Satya asks, noticing they’re going the opposite direction of their house.

“Bakery. There’s no one home to watch you, so I figured we could do a ‘take your kid to work’ thing. I can start teaching you how to bake, and if you hate it then we’ll get Hana to take you home once she gets out of school. Sound good?”

“Okay.”

 

The next morning, Hana’s waken up by her alarm clock way earlier than she’s used to. The green letters read  _ 5:45 AM _ . She mutters “what the fuck to herself as she slaps it off.

Suddenly, the light turns on and Satya starts gathering her clothes to get dressed. “Honey, it’s not even six, we can go back to sleep.”

“I know.” She carries her clothes to the bathroom and turns the light out when she leaves. Hana decides she’ll deal with it later and immediately goes back to sleep.

Satya timed the alarm perfectly, and meets Gabe downstairs right as he’s getting ready to go to work. “Dad,” she whispers.

“Satya? What are you doing up, kiddo?”

“I wanna go to work with you again.”

“Honey, you have to go to school.”

“But I don’t want to, I hate it there. Jack told me that I should hang in there until mid-October and then we could talk about it but I still hate it and it’s the twenty seventh and we still haven’t talked about it.”

Gabe sighs. “You’re right. I promise, sometime this weekend, we’ll talk about it.”

Satya isn’t sure whether to trust him or not, but doesn’t challenge him. “Can I please go with you again today? Yesterday was fun, wasn’t it?”

_ God, why can’t I keep all my kids in school for two freaking weeks? _ “Yes, I loved having you there.” He sighs. “You’re right, we did promise we’d talk to you about school before now, I’m sorry. Let’s go.”

“Yay!”

 

“Wait, so Satya’s getting to skip school and hang out at the bakery?” Jesse asks.

“She’s been going through some hard times at school,” Jack explains.

“So have I!” Hana protests. “Can I ditch and help out at the bakery?”

He sighs. “Not today. Maybe soon. You don’t even like working at the bakery.”

“Better than school. And I like spending time with dad and Satya.”

“You have plenty of time for that at home. Just… get dressed, please? If you really want to plan a day to work at the bakery we can figure it out over the weekend, I need to leave in half an hour.”

While Jack’s racing around trying to get ready, the phone rings. “Hello?”

“Hello, is this Mr. Morrison or Mr. Reyes?” a female voice asks.

“I’m Jack Morrison.”

“This is Dr. Jha, I’m the school psychologist at Duke Elementary school. I was present when your husband and daughter had their meeting with the principal and her teacher.”

“Is that what this is about?”

“Sort of. Mr. Lengyel will call either you or your husband at some point today to discuss arbitration with Satya and her teacher. That’s not what I wanted to talk about though.”

He checks his watch. “Ma’am, I’m in a bit of a rush right now, is there any way we can do this over email?”

“I’ll make this quick. Between reports from her teacher and other teachers that interact with her, in addition to her behavior and mannerisms during yesterday’s conference, I strongly recommend getting Satya screened for Autistic Spectrum Disorder.”

“Excuse me?” His kids wave and mouth  _ goodbye _ as they file out of the house, and he waves back at them.

“This isn’t a judgment on her, of course, but I have reason to suspect that she is on the high-functioning end on the spectrum. If you’d like, I can email you some information as well as a psychiatrist that I believe can help.”

He takes a deep breath, trying to process it. “Yes, please send anything you can over. Thank you.”

 

Gabe’s phone rings only two hours later. He sighs when he sees that it’s the elementary school. “Hello. Mr. Lengyel?”

“Hello. I was wondering, do you know when Satya might be returning to school?”

“I intended to have her back today, but something came up. Ideally, she’ll return Monday, but she seems… distressingly averse to the idea.”

“She’s a child, Mr. Reyes. Children tend to not enjoy going to school, that does not mean they should be allowed to stay home whenever they please.”

“Okay, Mr. Lengyel, you listen to me. First, if you try one more time to tell me how to raise my kids, this call will  _ not _ continue. Understood?”

“Yes.” There’s a bit of venom in his voice.

“Second, I’ve raised three kids that are not in high school. The only time that they’ve been this opposed to going to school was when something was wrong. Sometimes, something’s wrong on our end, like an illness or a mental health issue. Sometimes, though, something’s wrong on  _ your _ end. My daughter was unfairly punished for a crime that I do not believed happened in the first place, and there are unresolved harassment issues that I regret I didn’t bring up yesterday.”

“I see,” Lengyel says. “Perhaps on Monday morning, you and your husband and daughter could meet with Ms. Robinson and I and discuss these issues and try to find a solution.”

“I’d love to. First thing in the morning?”

“Seven O’Clock, if possible. I’d like to get this done before school starts.”

“Of course you would. Seven works fine, we’ll see you Monday morning.” He hangs up the phone. “Asshole.”

Satya walks up holding an old cookbook, her index finger holding its place. “Can we make this?”

“Ah, butter cookies. We haven’t sold those in a long time.”

“So we can’t?”

“Of course we can. About time they came back.”

 

That night, Jack and Gabe crash down on their beds at just past nine. Sombra’s not even home yet, and they can still hear Hana playing games downstairs. “How was Satya?”

“I love having her there,” Gabe says. “Are you sure we can’t have her skip the whole school thing and put her on full time?”

“We could try,” he says. “Of course, I’d be required to put a stop to it, but we could try.”

“So,” Gabe says, taking inventory in his mind. “Alright. You called the psychiatrist?”

“He’s got two hours available Saturday morning. 9:30 to 11:30”

“Good. So we’ve got that planned. We still need to talk to Satya at some point, go Halloween shopping with the kids, and drop that box over at your brother’s.”

“Need to go shopping before Sunday afternoon, because Sombra needs a lot of stuff and she’s busy from 2 onwards.”

“We can talk to Satya right after the psychiatrist—”

“If she’s up for it,” Jack reminds him.

“If she’s up for it, and dropping the box of will take, what, half an hour?”

“More if Ana’s home, she’ll have us stay for tea.”

“So we could have you go and spend the morning with them while I go shopping with the kids,” Gabe suggests.

“Sounds like a plan. God, weren’t weekends supposed to be relaxing?”

 

By the time Monday the 30th rolls around, the jury’s still out on Satya’s spot on the spectrum, Jack and Gabe reached an impasse with their daughter on returning to school, and Hana couldn’t find a vital element of her costume so she’s desperately hoping it’ll arrive in the mail by that evening. Satya and her dads show up at the school just before seven, gathered in Principal Lengyel’s office.

“Alright, now that we’re all here, let’s cut right to it. Satya, why don’t you want to be in school?”

“Everything is really loud and people make fun of me when I try to deal with it.”

“What do you mean, really loud?”

“Listen for a second.” She pauses. “Don’t you hear that?”

“I don’t hear anything,” Ms. Robinson says.

“The lights are humming. All day. It drives me crazy, and they’re too bright anyway.”

“Satya, I really don’t think they’re that hard to tune out,” Mr. Lengyel says.

“Maybe not for you,” she replies. “It makes me feel like everything is too tight, I get really tense, and I can rock back and forth and plug my ears or walk around to make it better, but people laugh at me. Sometimes people push me or throw things at me or call me names.”

“Honey, I told you,” Ms. Robinson says, “they do it because they like you. You should feel flattered.”

“But I don’t! I just feel bad!  _ You’re _ the teacher, teach them that if they do like me, which they don’t, they shouldn’t make me feel bad!” She turns to her dads. “You told me that if someone’s bothering me, I should tell someone, and I did, but nothing happened, and now I don’t know what to do!”

“I know, hun. Come here.” Jack pulls her into a hug, squeezing tight. She sniffles into his jacket.

“You ought to teach her not to take that tone with adults,” Mrs. Robinson says. Jack and Gabe shoot venom at her.

“You,” Jack says. “You have a seven year old who doesn’t feel comfortable in your classroom as a result of your own inaction, who you taught just to let people harass her and told her to feel flattered for it, who you tried to punish because you decided that another student wasn’t smart enough to do well on a test, and you have the nerve to tell  _ me _ how to raise my child?”

“I’ve been a teacher for twenty years—”

“And are therefore living proof that experience does not always beget wisdom,” Gabe says, voice full of non-emotion. The teacher and the principal both pale at that. “We’ll be taking our daughter home now, and the three of us will have to seriously consider whether this school is the right fit for our daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these new OW skins are fuckin' lit I'm totally using them for Halloween costumes next chapter
> 
> also place your bets on what's going to happen next chapter (NOT so I can farm them for ideas because i TOTALLY have it all planned out already hahaha I'm good at what I do trust me)


	5. 해피 할로윈!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Halloween, and the gang gets together for festivites

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoooooly shit, over 5,000 words here. Here's hoping they're all the right ones.

daughter.”

Once Hana finishes tying her hair into ponytails, she spins around in the mirror to make sure everything’s the way she wants it. Her black and burgundy diamond tights hug her legs from her black shoes up her thighs, where they meet the black dress that she puffed out with wire from a tutu she’d gotten at a thrift store. The dress itself is a size too big, but she decorated two belts and tied one around the base of her stomach and the other just under her bust. She’d forced the extra fabric around to the back and pinned it over itself, where hopefully it would remain. The headband with the cat ears sits snugly over her head, surprisingly comfortable for a cheap headband. Finally, she pulls the black gloves over her hands, and takes a picture of herself with one hand making a peace sign and her phone covering her face.

Satya refused to dress up, but Hana convinced her to accompany their group when out trick or treating that night. She waits in the living room for everyone to be ready, reading a book on the couch. Around the same time Hana emerges from her room, Efi and her little sister Orisa arrive. Orisa, being six and therefore too young to try and go full cosplay, is dressed in a store-bought ladybug costume. Efi, on the other hand, dressed herself like Princess Zelda in  _ Breath of the Wild _ .

“Impressive,” Hana comments when she sees it.

“Same to you,” Efi says, nodding in appreciation.

Orisa sits down next to Satya, a bit closer than she’d like. “Hi.”

“Hello.”

“What’re you reading?”

She shows her the cover, hoping she’ll leave her alone soon so she can finish the chapter she’s on before leaving.

“What’s it about?”

“Orisa!” Efi calls. “Come say hi to Hana with me.”

“Thanks,” Hana whispers.

Soon enough, two hooded figures walk through the front lawn and burst through the front door.

“Hey!” Lena says, lifting the mask obscuring her face. From the looks of it, she’d attached part of a gas mask to oversized orange goggles. She’d attached (hopefully empty) cans of spray paint to a belt wrapped around a blue hoodie. Her legs are adorned by dark tights covered in paint stains.

Emily, meanwhile, seems to have gone for a fancy approach to a feminine Grim Reaper. Her eyes are in shadow under a dark cloak with a cape that dangles down just past her thighs. Her red hair flows out from under her hood, and her red lips are lifted in a mysterious smile. She’s wearing long black sleeves that extend from her wrists to her shoulders but aren’t attached to a shirt. Her top is designed to accentuate her cleavage, and the fabric over her abdomen is adorned with silver and gold emblems.

“Evenin’,” Jesse says, emerging from his room. He’d repurposed much of his old cowboy outfit into his Van Helsing outfit, but scrapped the serape, decorated the stetson, and added a number of adornments.

“Damn, I’m kinda glad you ditched the cowboy,” Efi says.

“Me too,” he says. “I like this a lot better. Good way to go out.”

“Right, this is our last Halloween before college,” Lena says.

“Better make it count,” Emily says.

Jesse seems to notice her for the first time, and jokingly narrows his eyes at her. “Well, it’s a good thing you’re here with her, because you look exactly like someone I should be hunting.”

“You wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Who are we still waiting on?” Efi asks.

“Sombra’s still in the bathroom,” Hana says. “Then it’s just Hanzo and Genji. Fareeha and Angela said they might meet up with us later.”

Orisa wanders back over to Satya. “Hi.”

Satya’s more up front this time. “I don’t want to talk right now. I’m busy.”

Orisa walks away, feelings a little stung. Satya doesn’t watch her leave.

The door opens again. To most of their surprise, it’s Angela, dressed in a fairly revealing witch costume.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hey!” Jesse says. “Looks awesome.”

“Thanks. So do you.”

“You alright?” Lena asks.

She sighs. “I’ll be fine. I told Fareeha I wanted to go straight here. She thought we agreed we’d go to a party for a while and meet you guys back here later tonight, which I said was a  _ possibility _ but never outright agreed to. I told her I was gonna go here, she said she’s going to the party anyway.”

“Shit.”

“It’s fine, I’d rather spend my last Halloween with you guys than— holy shit, Sombra!”

The ever-growing crowd of teenagers turns to see Sombra emerging from the bathroom. She’s dressed in a leather jacket that goes partway down her upper arms, black jeans cut off halfway down her calves, a dark cape, and fingerless leather gloves. Her hair is done up in purple spikes, but most eye catching of all is the glow in the dark makeup she’d found and used to paint a skull over her face and parts of a skeleton over her limbs.

“Sup?”

“Damn, no wonder you took so long in there,” Jesse comments. “Speaking of…” he slips past her and into the finally vacant bathroom.

“I heard something about Fareeha?” she asks.

“Yeah,” Angela says. “She’d rather be at a party than hang out with us.”

“Her loss. This is gonna be awesome.”

“Are Hanzo and Genji gonna be here soon? Or should we go meet them at their house?” Efi asks.

“They should be here in a few minutes,” Jesse says.  _ Also I’ve never been to their house _ .

“Wait,” Hana says, noticing something out the window. A car she’s seen a couple times pulls out and parks in front of the house. Angela steps out of her way as she charges towards the door, the crowd inside watching curiously.

The driver of the car emerges, and happily embraces his girlfriend as she sprints around to hug him. Lucio dressed himself in full-on hockey attire, with a helmet, jersey, arm and knee pads, and even a hockey stick strapped to his back.

“Oh my God, this is awesome! I’m so happy you’re here!”

“Glad I can make it! You look incredible, by the way.”

“Get a room!” Jesse shouts from the porch, grinning. Hana flips him off.

 

Within twenty minutes, the Shimadas arrive, neither of them in costume. The rest of the group teases them for it, and they start walking. It’s 5:30 and other trick-or-treaters are also starting to start their journeys.

“Why aren’t you wearing a costume?” Orisa asks.

“I didn’t want to,” Satya answers. She’d started feeling lonely when Hana moved up to lead the group with Lucio, but wants to be alone again when the younger girl starts questioning her.

“But then you won’t get any candy!”

“Hana said she’d give me some of her candy. I don’t like most candy anyway.”

“But dressing up is so fun!”

“No it’s not. I don’t like it. I just wanted to stay home, but one of my dads isn’t there and the other’s leaving later tonight.”

“You don’t like trick-or-treating?”

“No,” she’s starting to get annoyed.

“Why?”

Satya looks over to Efi, hoping she’ll call back her sister again, but she’s engrossed in a conversation with Sombra.

Genji and Angela take the back of the line, Genji only able to go so fast on crutches. With mostly everyone paired off, she’s glad to have someone to talk to.

“So what’s going on with Fareeha? Think she’s too cool for us?”

“Evidently,” she sighs.

“Well, you are too, you still find the time to hang out.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Are you kidding? You’re smart, beautiful, popular, you’re even on the first aid squad! You’re not the first person I’d imagine wanting to hang out with us nerds.”

“Hey, I love all you nerds. I’ve been friends with most of these guys since middle school or before. If Fareeha thinks she has better things to do, then that’s her loss.” There’s a bit of bitterness at the last sentence.

“Have you guys been… having trouble?”

“Sorta. Don’t get me wrong, most of the time it’s awesome, and I really like her, but she can be so stubborn sometimes. To be honest… she’s a little immature.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, tonight, when she ran off to some party. Yeah, I like parties as much as the next girl, but we already had plans here! She can be so, just, impulsive, and kinda hot-headed, you know? And for the most part I can forgive it, because other than that she’s awesome, but,” she lets out a frustrated groan, “it just drives me nuts every once in a while!”

“Have you talked about it with her?”

“I’ve tried… sorta. It’s just a hard topic to bring up, and usually whenever I’d have a chance to she’s being perfectly fine and it just seems unfair to confront her about it then.”

“Excuse me,” Hanzo says. “May I talk to my brother real quick?”

“Sure,” Angela answers, walking a little faster to take his spot next to Jesse.

“What are you doing?” he hisses.

“I’m talking to Angela, what the hell do you mean what am I doing?”

“I know you like her—”

“I  _ liked _ her,” he corrects, “and what the hell does it matter?”

“She’s talking to you about her girlfriend issues—”

“Were you eavesdropping on me?”

“We’re all having public conversations! We hear each other! Now stop interrupting me. Yes, they may be going through a rough patch, but that doesn’t mean you can try to drive a wedge between them—”

“Just what are you accusing me of? Apparently you weren’t listening that closely, because I was trying to help her!” He speaks as loudly as he can while still whispering, trying to convey his frustration without being overheard. “I wouldn’t try to break up a couple and then try to get together with one of them, and I thought you knew me better than that! I’m talking to her about it because we’re  _ friends _ , also because everyone else is paired off and she’s the only one considerate enough to walk back here with me!”

“Just watch what you say,” he spits. “There’s no point in trying to break them apart if we have to leave in a few months anyway.”

“I’m  _ not _ ! And you don’t have to remind me, trust me. Just go back and enjoy the rest of the night with your boyfriend and leave me alone.”

 

Once it starts to get dark out, Jack takes his usual Halloween spot: on the front porch dressed as a masked scarecrow, next to the bowl of candy marked  _ Please only take one _ . He has a couple hours to kill before heading back to work, and the best way to spend it is scaring off teenagers who take the whole bowl for themselves.

After about an hour in, he’s taken to holding the  _ please only take one _ sign and shoving it in the faces when someone tries to take more than their fair share. Once he gets bored of that, he growls and eventually shouts, which gets much more amusing reactions.

Long after it’s fully dark out, he sees two more teenagers walking up the sidewalk. He freezes up in preparation, but some alarm goes off in his head when he hears them talk.

“Come on, mate, here’s another one.” He swears he heard that voice before.

They walk up the stairs, and he tracks them behind the mask. “Oh, perfect, it’s still half full!”

He picks up the bowl, and Jack jumps to his feet. “Hands off my candy!” he growls. The boys jump, and the one holding the bowl quickly replaces it. “Wait a minute,” he tears the mask off. “You’re the punks who were harassing my daughter!”

“Oh, n-no, sir!” Jamison struggles. “We… we’re… you must…”

“Get off my property!” Mako pulls his tall friend off the porch and they sprint down the sidewalk. Jack glares at them until they’re out of site.

 

“Can I talk to you about something kinda weird?” Efi asks. They’ve been out for a few hours due to Jesse and Lena’s insistence on thoroughly exploring the town. Efi might’ve protested on Orisa’s behalf, but Lucio offered to give Orisa a piggyback ride after she’d repeatedly commented on her feet hurting as long as someone else carried his hockey stick. Hana offered to carry Satya, but she’s apparently perfectly content to keep walking.

“Hell yeah,” Sombra answers. “Shoot.”

“So, like…” she pauses. “I don’t know if I’m a ‘girl’. I don’t think I’m a boy, but I don’t even know how to go about figuring out which I am.”

“You’re limiting yourself,” Sombra says. “You can keep trying to figure out if you’re a boy or a girl, but you could be neither. Or both. Or some days feel like a boy and some like a girl. Yeah, most people are happy with being a boy or being a girl, hell, even I am, but that kind of binary leaves out a good chunk of people. Maybe one of them is you.”

“Maybe.”

“How long has this been bothering you?”

“It’s been in the back of my mind… since the summer, I guess. I’ve only really started thinking about it over the last couple weeks.”

“Have you talked to anyone else about it?”

“I was actually going to talk to Hana tonight, but she’s a bit busy.”

“She doesn’t get to see him that often.”

“Yeah, I get it. I’m gonna talk to her when I get a chance.”

“How do you feel about pronouns? Want to switch from she and her?”

“No, not right now, at least. It’s like… I’m fine with those, but I think I’d also be fine with he and him and they and them.”

“So do you mind being called a girl?”

“Not really. Like, I am a girl, at least physically and I don’t think I want to change that, but… ugh. I’m just confused.”

“That’s okay. You’ll work through it, eventually. Just remember two… no, three things. If you do want to change your pronouns and what people call you, tell them. If they refuse for whatever reason, they’re not worth keeping around if you can avoid it. Two, you can identify as whatever you want, or even nothing at all, as long as you’re happy. Three, and this is the worst one, there’s always gonna be some asshole who thinks they know better than you for some reason and will take it upon themselves to explain why your personal identity is wrong. It really sucks, but they’re always gonna be there and you just have to ignore them. No one knows you better than you, and if they think they do, then they’re a dumbass. You can be whoever you want, as long as you’re not hurting anyone, and if someone doesn’t like it, they can—”

“Evening, ladies,” Emily says as she and Lena fall into stride with them. Efi takes a second to consider how she feels about being addressed as “ladies” and decides that while she doesn’t mind it, she’d prefer to be called something else. Exactly what that something else is fails her. “What are you lovelies talking about?”

“I was just explaining to Efi here about how I liked puberty so much, I decided I just had to do it again.”

“Well I’m glad you did, you’re a lot prettier this time around.”

“I was just telling Emily about this abandoned military base just off Oasis campus,” Lena says. “And she mentioned that she has a car that can take us there Friday or Saturday night. We just need to pick up some masks first because of the asbestos. Either of you interested?”

“My dad smoked until I was twelve, I think I’ll hold off on going somewhere that’ll fuck up my lungs further. Or where I could get arrested for trespassing.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna pass on this one too,” Sombra says. “Have fun though.”

“Your loss,” Lena shrugs. “Jesse!” She and her girlfriend take a few strides forwards to catch up to Jesse and Hanzo, and ask them the same question.

“Oh, I’m definitely in,” Jesse says. “Hanzo?”

“I… I think not,” he says.

“Aww. Are you sure?”

“Yes, I think I’ll sit this one out. Have fun, though.”

“Lame,” Lena says.

“Bring a camera, if you have one,” Emily says. “We haven’t been inside before but I think there’ll be a lot of good photos in there.”

“Awesome! And then I can just show you everything when I get back!”

“Sounds good. Be safe.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Lena asks.

 

Once Jack’s gone for work, the gang returns to his house, takes the remainder of the candy inside, and reverts back to their natural states of eating and gaming. Hana boots up the old Wii U and sets up an eight-player smash for herself, Lucio, Genji, Lena, Angela, and Efi. Emily sits next to her girlfriend and cheers her on, despite every fight being dominated by Hana and Genji before the former takes out the latter. Sombra, Jesse, and Hanzo sit in the kitchen with the kids to make sure they don’t eat too much.

Soon enough, there’s a knocking at the door. Emily, assuming that it’s more trick-or-treaters, grabs the candy bowl and opens the door.

“Hi,” Fareeha says, a little timid.

“Hey,” Emily says, and steps out of the way so Angela (who was already eliminated in that round) could decide what to do.

The blonde girl gets up from her seat on the couch, and Emily returns to Lena’s side. “Hi.” She steps off the threshold and onto the porch, closing the screen door behind her.

“I’m… sorry,” Fareeha says. “I shouldn’t have run off like that earlier, that was really shitty of me. I wish I hadn’t.”

“Stop down-B spamming, you piece of shit!” someone shouts from inside.

“Why did you?”

“I don’t know,” she sighs, “I wasn’t really thinking. For some reason I just felt like I do when my mom’s ordering me around, like I just have to get out and do something.”

“I don’t want to make you feel like that,” Angela says. “I’m not your mom, and I don’t want to order you around. If you’re not comfortable enough to talk to me, then—”

“It’s not that I’m not comfortable talking to you, it’s—”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“I don’t know! I just got, like, stupid and impulsive, and I just hate it when I do that, it’s like I lose control of myself and wake up two hours later feeling like crap, and… I’m sorry, Angie.” She’s staring at the ground, so she’s surprised when she’s suddenly enveloped in a soft hug.

“Come on,” she says. “We’ve got room for another player.”

The rest of their friends greet her happily when she approaches and she sits on the floor in front of Angela, who plays with her dark hair after dying early on in every match.

Sombra sneaks in and kneels down in front of Hana a few minutes later. “Hey, uh, can you run up to your room real quick and make sure Satya’s okay?” she whispers. “I’ll take over.”

Hana nods and hops up, handing over the controller. Sombra, almost as good as her sister, cleans up as Hana would’ve, but abstains from the next few matches.

Ten minutes later, Satya returns to the kitchen, but Hana’s nowhere to be seen. This time Lucio takes it upon himself to investigate, quickly killing his character and absconding down the hall to her room.

He hears faint crying, and knocks softly before peeking in. “Hana?”

She’s sitting on her bed, wiping the running makeup off her cheeks with a tissue. “Hey,” she says, her voice wet.

“Are you alright? What’s wrong?” he steps into her room.

“I’m fine, it’s just…” she sniffs, “she had such a bad first few years, Lu. Her old family was so horrible to her, and, like, I’m glad she can confide in me, it’s just a lot to handle sometimes.”

He sits next to her, rubbing her back softly, not sure of what to say. She leans her head against his shoulder. He becomes very glad he ditched the helmet and shoulder pads downstairs. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

“Don’t apologize, everyone needs a good cry sometimes.”

“I try not to, I just keep picturing her in that old house with that… monster of a father she used to have, and she’s such a good kid, she didn’t deserve that.”

“No one does.” He tries not to shiver a little as her warm tears start bleeding through his thin jersey.

“She told me once that she was scared of  _ me _ her first day here. Like, what did her old sister do to her that could’ve made her scared of  _ me _ ?”

“She’s not  _ still _ scared of you, though. You guys are best friends, you’re one of the best things that ever happened to her.”

He feels a hint of a smile against her cheeks. “Can you, uh, go outside just for a few minutes? I think I want to get changed.”

“Sure.” She rises off him to let him go, then takes a deep breath that shudders on the way down.

First the makeup comes off, and she wrinkles her nose in displeasure as she reveals the scar she hates so much. Then the bows come out again, letting her auburn hair fall plainly down her shoulders. She reaches around and unzips the back of the dress, taking out the pins and undoing the two belts she’d tied around herself to keep it in place. It falls to the floor, and she’s slightly saddened to notice the small boost it gave to her breasts had vanished, leaving her with only the slight curve she’d always found disappointing before her flat stomach. There’s still a few smaller scars over her chest left over from the crash, straight white slashes across her as if she’d been slashed. She quickly finds a pink shirt to cover herself with.

_ Boy, it’s a good thing you sent him out of the room _ , she hears her voice in her head say.  _ Wouldn’t want him to see this. _

“Shut up, shut up,  _ shut up _ !” she mutters, squeezing her eyes and fists as if that would help. She feels her fragile emotional state about to dissolve into tears again, so she hurries up and replaces her tights with sweatpants and opens the door to let Lucio in.

“Want me to get you anything?”

“Just… lie down with me,” she requests. “Put on some of your music, I wanna take my mind of this. Let’s talk about something happier.”

 

“I still can’t believe I’ve never been over to your house,” Jesse comments. “I know people usually hang out here so it would make sense that you’re here a lot more than I’m there, but seriously, I’ve never even seen it.”

“Our dad is… not a good person,” Hanzo says, expecting only to get that far.

“Really? How so?”

“I don’t want to get into it.”

“Aw, come on. I told you all about my shitty birth dad, what’s up with yours?”

“You really want to know?”

“Yes! Tell me!”

“You’re positive.”

“Come on, man, what could possibly be worse than mine?”

“Fine. Come with me.” He walks to the basement door, motioning for Genji to come with him.

“What’s going on?” Genji asks as he slowly makes his way down the stairs.

“We’re telling Jesse why he’ll never go to our house or meet our parents.”

“Aw, come on, never?”

“Never.” They sit on two couches, the brothers facing the wannabe vigilante.

“Alright, you’re creeping me out, what’s going on here?”

“Do you remember how, for the first couple weeks I lived here, your father really didn’t trust me?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“That’s because my last name is Shimada, and my family has been accused of various criminal activities over the past decade, which is why we’ve moved around so much and eventually came to the states.”

“How come I’ve never heard about this?”

“They’re very good at covering their tracks, despite the fact that they’ve faced dozens of accusations, all of them true.”

“So… what do they do?”

Genji counts off on his fingers. “Smuggling, drug manufacture, grand theft, larceny, assassinations but very rarely… some political stuff that I don’t even know the name of.”

“H-how much of your family is this?”

He counts off again. “Father, our uncles, cousins, some aunts, a couple grandparents, some great aunts and uncles, and it goes back at least to our great-grandfather.”

“Why didn’t you turn them in?” Jesse asks, and immediately feels shitty about asking.

“There’s no one it could be except for us, and father knows this, and even if we did any major damage to his empire, he’d take us down with him,” Hanzo explains. “We have spent the last couple months compiling as much information and evidence as possible. When we turn eighteen, we’re going to turn it all in and then disappear for a while until it all blows over.”

“Disappear? As in… skip town? Run away?”

“Yes.”

“This December? As in, two months from now?”

“Yes. If we don’t we’ll be forced into business with father. We’ve spent three years discussing this, and running’s the only option.”

It’s heartbreakingly obvious to Hanzo that Jesse knows what that means. “So the whole time you were here, the whole time we were together, you knew you were just going to leave one day? And you weren’t even going to tell me this, just show up one day and say you’re running away? Or maybe just leave me a note? Write me a letter from across the state?”

“This is why I didn’t—”

“Why couldn’t you have just told me what I was getting into when we were just starting out? Like, maybe not the whole ‘I’m an heir to a criminal empire’ thing, but at least give me a heads up that you’re only sticking around until December?”

“Would that have made a difference?”

“I don’t know, but at least I wouldn’t have gotten super invested only to find out that you were planning on leaving all along?”

“Would you have preferred if we were never together in the first place?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. I just wish—”

“Oh my god! Who cares?” Genji shouts. “‘I wish I’d studied more.’ ‘I wish you’d told me this.’ ‘I wish we’d never been in that car crash!’ Who the fuck cares?! It’s over! You can’t change it! I already failed the test, we’ve already been hit by the car, and he already hasn’t told you that we were moving away until now! Now you can keep angsting about it, or stop shouting and deal with it!” He does his best to storm off despite only being able to move at a slow hobble, struggles up the stairs, and slams the door behind him after an agonizing ten seconds.

He finds the kitchen empty except for Satya, Sombra and Orisa having relocated to the living room. “What were you shouting about down there?” she asks.

“Oh. Guess you could hear me, huh?”

“I couldn’t tell what you were saying, just the noise.” She doesn’t look up from the book, to engrossed with the pictures of buildings on the pages. “So what were you shouting about?”

“Nothing, really. They were just being stupid and I got frustrated.”

“My dads say you shouldn’t yell at people when they’re being stupid.”

“They’re probably right, I don’t think either of them are too fond of me right now.”

“When you were in the car crash, you saw a doctor, right?”

“Lots of them.”

“I saw a doctor over the weekend, but not like a normal doctor. He said he was a mind doctor or something. He gave me a diagnostic test, I think it was called. When you saw your doctor, how long did it take for you to get a diagnosis?”

“A couple hours.”

“Oh. Maybe it just takes longer with mind doctors.” She’s quiet for a few seconds. “People usually get diagnosises when there’s something wrong with them, right?”

“With regular doctors, yes. I’m not sure about mind doctors.”

“Is something wrong with me? In my mind?”

“I don’t think there is.”

 

It’s almost eleven, and Hana and Lucio have been snuggled up for a while. “Oh my god, you’re singing in this one!” Hana says with a huge smile. “I told you to sing more!”

“As usual, you were right.” He kisses her.

“I really wish you didn’t live so far away. Then we could do this more.” She kisses him.

“Less than two years, I’ll be in college and have a dorm. You’ll be a senior and you can drive. We could spend the whole night together.”

“Oh man, I just remembered, this was super embarrassing, but during that week where you were living here I must’ve had two or three dreams about falling asleep in your arms.”

“That’s not embarrassing, that’s adorable.” He kisses her again, longer this time.

Hana’s suddenly very aware that she’s in her bed with a boy. Who’s kissing her very passionately. For a split second she gets lost in it again, just feeling his energy as they explore each other, but then she just snaps back to  _ I’m kissing a boy in my bed! _

Then they’re not kissing, at least, she’s not. His lips touch her cheek, her lips again, her cheek, her cheek, her chin, her neck  _ oh no oh no _ .

Millions of excuses explode into her head.  _ It’s a school night. We don’t have protection. Someone could hear us. I have a headache. I’m on my period. I’m tired.  _ Then, for some reason, she can’t stop thinking about why she doesn’t want him to continue.  _ My boobs are too small. You’ll hate them. I don’t shave, you’ll think I’m gross. I have scars, you don’t want to _ —

“Wait, stop,” she says. He pulls away.

“Yeah? Is something wrong?”

All her previous excuses want to come out at once, and all of them get caught in her throat. The only thing that emerges, without her wanting it to, is the basic truth. “I don’t want to.” She flinches as soon as she says it, wishing she could come up with a better reason, unaware that she’d given the only one that mattered.

“Oh. Okay.” It’s awkward. It’s uncomfortable. “Do you, uh, want me to leave?”

“No, no! I want you here, I just don’t want anything more right now.” It’s a little less awkward, a little less uncomfortable. He lies back down next to her. The song changes. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he says. “If you don’t want to, you don’t want to. Hell, if you don’t want to,  _ I _ don’t want to.”

“Really?” she says, slightly wary that he might just be feeding her a line.

“Yeah, really. I want to do it, but only if you do too. If you didn’t want to, but did it anyway, I’d feel like crap. Actually, I should be  _ thanking  _ you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Relief washes over her. “For a second I was scared that if I told you to stop you’d get mad and walk out. Or at least try to convince me.”

“That’s not me.”

“I know, trust me. Just some weird fear I had. I know I’m safe with you.” She kisses him, a simple one, on the lips, and cuddles back up to him. “I am gonna want to do it, someday. Just not tonight.”

“Whenever you’re ready.”

 

Shortly after Satya goes into their room, ready for bed, Lucio decides he should be heading home. Instead of walking to the door, he opens their window.

“We have a front door, you weirdo,” Hana says.

“Don’t take this away from me. I’ve always wanted to do this.”

“Half your costume’s still in the living room!”

“I’ll be back for it in a minute,” he lowers one leg out the window. “Goodbye, my love. I’ll be with you in your dreams.”

“Goodbye, my weirdo.” He slides out the window and she shuts it behind him, smiling as he stumbles and walks away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, thus ends Autumn! Like I said when I started this about a month and a half ago, I'm gonna spend a while going through and editing stuff a bit so I can post it all as a single work, as the "series" thing worked better back when you didn't need to read all the previous parts to get the context.  
> I'm gonna be posting the first four chapters all at once with slight touch up and any continuity errors fixed, then I'll probably go one or two at a time until I get back to here.  
> This is not the end of the series! If I was reading this and it ended here I'd be pretty pissed, there's a solid half-dozen plot arcs that are loose here, I just wanted to end this part on Halloween and I hope it worked out in my favor.  
> If you've got anything in some old chapters that you think needed fixing or any suggestions for later chapters, please let me know! If not, I'll see you in a week or two on the Full Collection!


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